There is a signed & numbered title card in Italian, stating that the limited edition of 100 copies was designed and printed by Donata Lanzoni in 1979.
The card back design is a hand drawn checker pattern of diamonds, also printed from the plate.
The cards are hand cut.

This is one of the great self-contained-world decks.
Ms Lanzoni conjures a unique atmosphere, and all of the inhabitants have a great deal of personality.

There is a kind of operatic, or theatrical quality to the deck.
The figures feel like characters on the stage of an opera about a Victorian circus.
She combines a sort of Gothic elegance with the staid dignity of the Victorians.

Her technical execution is superb.
The cards have an absolutely lovely tactile quality.
They appear to be made up of several layers glued up, with some kind of matt varnish or sizing as a stiffener.
The shallow plate mark is clearly impressed on the faces.

Her drawing style is beautifully suited to etching,
The abundant cross hatching defines the masses, and she also employs a stipple effect for additional shading.
I have heard there is a hand colored version, but I've never actually seen it.
Here, the black etched linework on natural off-white paper creates a lovely effect.

my best compliment for one of the most beautiful italian decks i ever have seen,it's really touching for me seeing them from your photos ,never i saw them so well and appreciate in all minute particulars,really a great generosity from Rylla.i think i woudn't have been able to do the same

To avoid they are a "summa" of classic and contemporary art they are touching in feeling,the delicate embracement of lovers,the suffused landscape of the Moon(who among us hasn't inside one similar scenery?) but the Angel!it is really the power of God,the hope, the divine breath,full of power,generous dispenser of new life,powerful and full of love.Thanks very much to Bill for letting us delight with so much Beauty

I'm glad you-all like it!
I posted a lot of photos because it's a fairly rare deck, and not readily visible.

I don't see anything like a wolf or dog on the Moon card.
She doesn't always follow the traditional imagery so closely.
Sometimes she inflates one element, in this case the buildings, and drops another. (The dogs.)

In the case of The Star, she's enlarged the bird-and-tree, and dropped the woman.

alice wrote: To avoid they are a "summa" of classic and contemporary art they are touching in feeling, the delicate embracement of lovers, the suffused landscape of the Moon (who among us hasn't inside one similar scenery?) but the Angel! it is really the power of God, the hope, the divine breath, full of power, generous dispenser of new life, powerful and full of love. Thanks very much to Bill for letting us delight with so much Beauty
Yes, Lanzoni has a delicate touch, and she captures an overall good feeling.

Here are a couple more close-views for you, that I left out earlier...

Hello OnePotato, thanks for sharing these exquisite images with us, and congratulations on acquiring this deck that has been on your top most wanted list for such a long time. I am rather envious, as this deck is particularly beautiful! I do have an affinity for pen-art, so this one ticks all the boxes in my opinion!

Would you consider granting me permission to feature your uploaded images on my tarot website - under the 'Rare Decks' section? Also, please advise how you would want to be credited and where to link the images to if you should agree.

My name is Andi Graf, otherwise known as 'Rootweaver' in the international tarot community. I can be reached on aussie(dot)graf(at)gmail(dot)com

Oh, my! Such exquisite Art is why we collect and share these marvelous images. I have never seen lovely pen and ink work as this, and the deck looks so beautifully made, I ache to hold it in my hands. Thank you so much, OnePotato, you put a lot of effort into this display, and I appreciate it!

Oh, my! Such exquisite Art is why we collect and share these marvelous images. I have never seen lovely pen and ink work as this, and the deck looks so beautifully made, I ache to hold it in my hands. Thank you so much, OnePotato, you put a lot of effort into this display, and I appreciate it!

lilystone wrote: Oh, my! Such exquisite Art is why we collect and share these marvelous images. I have never seen lovely pen and ink work as this, and the deck looks so beautifully made, I ache to hold it in my hands. Thank you so much, OnePotato, you put a lot of effort into this display, and I appreciate it!
Hello lilystone.

I'm glad you like it.
It's still one of my top favorites.

You should note, though, that it is not "pen and ink". It's copperplate etching.

So the drawings were done with a steel point, on sheets of copper that were covered in tar. The plates are then etched in an acid bath so that the scratched lines become grooves & recesses in the surface of the metal. Oily black ink is then rubbed into the grooves, and a heavy roller press transfers the ink to the card-paper to create the final image.

Once the plates are made, every copy of every card is printed this way, by hand. It's a massive amount of labor to create each deck, so the edition size is always relatively small. But the resulting image quality is exquisite. No other repro method can capture that.